We had a big celebration for Father's Day weekend!
It was Fossil Fest weekend here so Dad & Mom Stoddard, Amy & Kolby's gang, and Mark, Mayela and Amber came to check out the festivities. Covey (Lucy was supposed to but decided she didn't want to) performed with Simply Sensational for the Welcome to the Jungle program on stage. We were in the parade to promote our Tropical Sno business and Mark, Mayela, and Boji helped us out. We threw out leis, snow balls, and coupons to parade goers. We enjoyed the water fight in the street. We went over to the Gem and Fossil show at the events center. We danced to the music, saw some of the shows, jumped in the bounce house, went to Cov's baseball game, shopped at the little booths (the older three kids and Amber thought the fake cigarettes were fun, oh boy!), and of course sold shaved ice. Amber even helped out in there and Cal especially made some really great tips! We came home and watched the ground breaking online for the Montpelier temple, which our stake president participated in, so we are pretty sure that will be our new temple - exciting! We made a yummy lunch with everyone with smash burgers and that was fun and we had tons of great sides to go with. We went over to the kids fishing pond and Boji and Cov drove their RC boats which was so fun for them. Kolb accidentally drove Boji's into some weeds and it broke and Boj wasn't very happy. It was great to be with family, and my own dad for the weekend! My dad is so service oriented and shows others his love through his service. He dropped everything and came up a few weeks ago just for the day to help us clean and get the Tropical Sno stand ready, and watch the kids for a few hours so we could go serve at the Tabernacle Experience. Dave's dad is always supportive of everything and leads the family through his example of devotion to the Lord. It was neat to see him take the lead at Grandma Carol's funeral, as all of his siblings wanted him to pray and take charge of the family in love and faith during that difficult time. It was great spending time with Marko, he is like a father figure to our kids. The olders love texting him and the youngers love playing with him. They have so much fun with him and he is a good example. And of course the dad of our family, Dave! I am thankful to these Dads of mine!
We woke up and made breakfast in bed for Dad, baked blueberry French toast bake and chocolate milk. Mark, Mayela and Amber stayed the night before and were here for most of Father's Day. Sacrament meeting was great! First the sacrament of course and then for the meeting program, Callahan spoke in sacrament meeting about reasons he loves his dad. He used an acronym for Dad. D- Dedicated. He talked about how dedicated Dave is to our family and how hard he works for us. He told about the time when he had to go to the ER and Dad dropped everything and sped (just a few miles over the speed limit he said) to come see him and be with him. And then drove home once we knew he was okay in the wee hours of the morning. A - awesome. Cal talked about how Dave is an awesome example of fulfilling callings and serving others and helps him see how important using priesthood for good is. And then D - Cal spoke about how delightful Dave is. He said he's always fun to be around, except for when he's angry, which made Dave laugh super hard. Dave doesn't get angry very often, but when he does, you know something big had to happen. It was a sweet talk. They asked 8 youth to share things they love about their Dads. Then Covey and Sydnie sang the song "Fathers" from the Primary songbook and they did such a great job. The whole meeting was like a Father's Day extravaganza, especially as they made no mention of moms or did anything special for Mother's Day. When we got home, we ate a light lunch, played together, and then Dave opened his presents. Sydnie gave Dave a bag of a bunch of things she made and had. She gave him an origami dog she made, a card, and some of her toys she thought he would like. Cov was especially excited to give Dad an apron he designed and some tool notes. Lucy made some brownies and a card for him. And Emma and Cal got him a laser level with a nice note. We played in the afternoon, went on a quick four wheeler ride (the weather wasn't cooperating much that day), talked and snuggled. "Oh I love you so much, Daddy!" Sydnie kept saying as she snuggled with Dave on the couch. Then we made Mexican black bean lasagna and green chili cheese breadsticks with salad for dinner. In the prayer for dinner, Cov said that we are grateful for all dads. Isn't that the truth!? Mark, Mayela and Amber left next.
We are of course sooo thankful for Dave who is one of the best fathers I know! Callahan has his name in his phone as Dada is Cool. Yep, he's pretty cool and we all love him so much! He does so many cool things for us and we are very grateful for him and all dads.
